The Floating Catastrophe

Our nation’s waterways are at risk to become the new highways for dangerous fracking waste. The U.S. Coast Guard has proposed the opening of the Ohio River, and other major waterways, as a route for shale gas extraction wastewater. If approved, the fracking waste barges pose a hazard to all those who drink and live near these waterways.

GreenHunter Resources, Inc. is seeking permission to build a barge dock that could accommodate roughly 105,000,000 gallons of fracking waste at once. A facility of this size could endanger contiguous ecosystems and communities. Almost 686 million gallons of fracking wastewater was dumped in Ohio last year alone, in which half came from out of state sites. If approved, the new proposals could eventually transform Ohio into a fracking wasteland.

Proponents argue that barging the waste is a safer alternative to transporting it by truck or railway. However, the quantity of chemical waste could wreak havoc on communities nearby and downstream for months, even years, if there were a mishap.

Due to recent gas-related accidents, residents and local water officials resent the proposal. Earlier this year, President Obama and West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency after harmful chemicals poured into the Elk River. The warning came too late for many West Virginia residents, as hundreds of people who drank or used the water reported symptoms such as vomiting, rashes and dizziness.

Millions of people could face serious health problems if an accident of this magnitude occurred on the Ohio River. The river and its watershed stretch 981 miles and it flows through six states, coming into contact with many fragile ecosystems. The river is the source of drinking water for over three million people, and 10 percent of the U.S. population lives in the Ohio River Basin.

As seen with other massive chemical spills, they are hard to contain, and even harder to clean up in many cases. Enacted by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2005, the Halliburton Loophole allows oil companies to keep secret the chemicals they use in their hydraulic fracturing process. Each company’s chemical cocktail differs, leaving workers flying blind when clearing up spills and assessing damage.

The risk of contaminating such a large water source is incredibly irresponsible, as the slightest accident could be calamitous. Ultimately, the proposal is just another example of the grip oil and gas companies have on our government.

Please do NOT allow fracking wastewater transport on the Ohio River and other major waterways. It is too dangerous to both people and marine ecosystems.

Cleanup of spills is almost impossible due to Dick Cheney’s Haliburton Loophole, which allows oil companies to keep secret the chemicals they use in fracking. Each company’s chemical cocktail differs, leaving workers flying blind when clearing up spills and assessing damages.

It is considerable concern to me that the US Coast Guard would seriously consider allowing such incredibly dangerous chemicals to be transported on the Ohio River. The potential for a catastrophic disaster is far too great to permit this and no such permission should be given. I implore those reviewing this request to deny the request and preserve the safety of millions of American cititzens.

What could possibly go wrong? This is a prescription for disaster. How could the Coast Guard drop their protection standards that far? I’m shocked. How in the world will they ever prevent even ONE disaster? Once it happens it’s too late. Now we have corporations influencing government agencies who have the task of protecting our waterways & the public to give in to something so blatantly dangerous? And, they know accidents happen. I’m shocked as well as disillusioned.

Do not risk contamination of our nation’s rivers. My daughter and grandchildren live along the Ohio River, in Kentucky. We need a moratorium on all fracking activities in the USA unless the petrochemical companies reveal what they are introducing into our environment, until they can prove they employ absolutely safe business practices, and commit to 100% restitution & repair from any & all fracking associated human and environmental harm.

What are you? Insane? On their payroll? Shirtsighted? Believe in fairies? This has to be among the most outrageous proposals by the energy industry, and there have been many! Get some morals and say NO. Repeat after me, N O!

I strongly urge the U.S. Coast Guard to deny ANY permits to transport ANY fracking waste through ANY waterway from which drinking water is drawn, but especially the Ohio River. One accident – just one – could prevent millions of people from ever having safe drinking water again. The are many other serious environmental concerns as well, but at a minimum we should be protecting people’s sources of potable water.

This is an idea whose time has pasted. Do not approve this project. Do not allow big fossil fuel corporations to spill there fracking waste in our waterways. . The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention and doctors across the nation have called for a moratorium on fracking pending further research into the effects of injecting hydrocarbons such as: petroleum distillates, naphthalene, formaldehyde, benzyl choride, volatile organic compounds and glycol ethers deep into the earth. Of the 353 chemicals presumed ingredients, 60% can harm the brain and nervous system, 40% are endocrine disrupters and 30% are both suspected carcinogens and developmental toxicants.

Please do not allow this. Transporting Fracking waste on a river will not end well. The oil and gas industry have proven time and again that they cannot be trusted to protect us from their pollution and their irresponsible practices.

Food &Water Watch champions healthy food and clean water for all. We stand up to corporations that put profits before people, and advocate for a democracy that improves people's lives and protects our environment.